Dear Kent Community Members,
As we move from fall to winter, we recognize a brief interruption of normal educational activities by hosting the Portage County Health District and its H1N1 school vaccination clinics on December 8 and 9. The unofficial numbers indicate that about 1,360 students received vaccinations in our eight school buildings.
I must compliment the County’s Dr. Angela DeJulius, MD, and Kelly Englehart, RN, and all of the County staff on their excellent work with the school vaccination clinic in Kent Schools. I also thank Annette Petranic, the County’s organizer, who created all of the schedules for our clinics. I also acknowledge the work of Kent City Health Commissioner, John Ferlito, who helped with every clinic. I finally thank Jim Soyars, our Director of Business Services, who assisted with each clinic’s set-up, logistics, and so on.
We are blessed in both Kent Schools and Portage County to have the wonderful services of the Portage County Health District. This group of professionals truly should be considered the pride of our County. Each and every one deserves our thanks and our support.
On a different note, this month we say “farewell” to one of our esteemed board members, Mr. John Flynn. As a board member for the last 20 years, John always has guided the district with the best interests of students in mind. I have been privileged to know John for the last 17 of those 20 years, and I thank him and acknowledge his commitment, work, and time devoted to the Kent Schools.
Born and raised in the Kent community, John is a 1967 graduate of Roosevelt High School. Later, he graduated in 1971 from Mount Union, where he met his wife of 35 years, Connie Flynn. A graduate of The Ohio State University Law School, he has been practicing law in Kent ever since his graduation in 1974. No stranger to community service, he has committed many, many hours to valuable volunteer positions other than the Kent Board of Education, such as the Robinson Memorial Hospital Foundation Board, the Rotary Club of Kent, and the City of Kent. Besides Connie, John has nine immediate family members in his life: three sons (all Roosevelt graduates), two daughters-in-law, and four grand sons. With his retirement from the board, John will be spending more time with all of them.
At the same time that we say “farewell” to John, we welcome Dr. Marlene Dorsey to the Kent Board of Education. Like John Flynn, she has children who are Roosevelt High School graduates. Her involvement as a parent will now take a new form as a representative of the people of Kent. Dr. Dorsey has been and continues to be an outstanding educator at Kent State University, and her insights will be appreciated.
The above reflections are not meant to ignore the holidays. I wish you all in the Kent Schools community a blessed holiday and a prosperous new year!
Sincerely,
Dr. Joe Giancola
Superintendent